The present disclosure relates generally to hinge and slide devices, and more particularly, to such a device for vehicle doors.
Sliding door structures are generally implemented on vehicles to reduce the door swing distance from the vehicle body; to allow for better ingress and egress into or from a vehicle; and to improve package of a vehicle. This type of design is particularly helpful when a user is parking a vehicle in a confined area where there is little available room for door swing.
In the sliding door structure, guide rails are generally included at the roof rail/cant rail and rocker/sill as well as adjacent to a vehicle body class A surface. The guide rail on the class A surface is generally configured as a linear track just below the side window. In addition, such vehicles generally also implement a curved guide track on the vehicle body at the sill and or side rail/cant rail to guide the sliding door into the closed position against the vehicle body. To open the sliding door, the sliding door is projected in a vehicle exterior direction along the curved portion of the guide rail and then the sliding door is moved along the linear portion to a fully opened position. To close the sliding door, the sliding door is moved to the curved portion from the linear portion of the guide rail and then the sliding door is pulled inward against the vehicle to a closed position.
However, the sliding door movement does coincide with the curved shape of the guide rail once it transitions from the linear portion to the curved portion resulting in a distinct two step operation for opening and closing the sliding door.